Shopping addiction: "We're buying more, but not getting happier"
Digital solutions make shopping easier and stopping harder, according to researchers.
Online stores are increasingly using gaming tactics, making it more difficult to resist shopping temptations, according to experts.(Photo: Shutterstock / NTB)
An offer, a countdown, or a small reward after a tough week.
For some, it is never enough.
In a society where consumption is deeply ingrained in daily life, researchers believe it can affect the way we shop.
"Easier and less painful to spend money"
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Easa Sahabeh is an associate professor at the University of South-Eastern Norway's Department of Business, Strategy and Political Sciences.
He researches consumer behaviour and says it has never been easier for people to shop.
"50 years ago, it was more noticeable when money disappeared from your wallet. Now, with digital payment solutions, spending money feels less painful," he says.
He says that online shopping today is designed to tempt you.
Offers like 'three for two,' time-limited campaigns, and messages that products are about to sell out are just some of the tools being used.
"It creates a feeling that we must act quickly. Many products are marketed as 'limited edition' without actually being so," he says.
Sahabeh believes that such strategies can make it harder for people with problematic shopping behaviour to seek help.
It has become easier and less painful to spend money online, according to consumer researcher Easa Sahabeh.(Photo: Nicoleta Ionescu / Shutterstock / NTB)
Easa Sahabeh studies why we shop the way we do.(Photo: University of South-Eastern Norway)
Is shopping addiction a real addiction?
Cathrine Jansson-Boyd, professor of consumer psychology at Anglia Ruskin University in England, says shopping addiction is not officially recognised as a diagnosis.
"There has been an ongoing debate for several years about whether it should be classified as a disorder. But in my experience, shopping addiction does exist," she says.
We usually use the term shopping addiction in everyday language. The more clinical term is compulsive buying behaviour, which refers to shopping that is driven by emotion or a sense of compulsion.
Jansson-Boyd believes that compulsive shopping may be linked to other mental health challenges.
"We see possible connections with depression, paranoia, and personality disorders. But we don't know which comes first – the buying behaviour or the disorder," she says.
In a 2024 study, researchers found that those at high risk for compulsive buying behaviour also had a higher incidence of depression, neuroticism, and workaholism.
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Consumer behaviour researcher Cathrine Jansson-Boyd says shopping addiction may be linked to other mental health challenges.(Photo: Private)
Filling the void with consumption
Jansson-Boyd questions whether marketing is a trigger for compulsive buying behaviour or simply a symptom of something deeper.
At the same time, she points to changes in societal structures as a possible contributing factor.
"In the past, we spent more time with family and friends. Now, much of our social life takes place online, and we're constantly checking our phones," she says.
Jansson-Boyd explains that mental health is closely tied to social interaction. If we lack social connection in our daily lives, we may start looking for substitutes elsewhere.
She especially believes that young people are more vulnerable.
"They're in a stage where they're building their identity, while also being influenced by social media. This can cause confusion. If they lack self-esteem and don't know how they fit into society, they might try to fill that void through shopping," she says.
Increased mobile use may reflect a social void, which, according to researcher Cathrine Jansson-Boyd, can lead to higher levels of consumption.(Photo: Shutterstock / NTB)
We're buying more, but not getting happier
Jansson-Boyd believes that modern consumption is less about actual needs and more about what society has conditioned us to do.
"Since the 1950s, we've built a society centred around consumption. When people spend money, businesses do better. The whole society encourages consumption," she says.
She argues that online shopping has now been deliberately designed to tempt users and is part of a system that rewards increased consumption.
"Many gaming elements are used that trigger the brain's reward system and release dopamine. This can lead people to visit online stores more often and make it harder to resist temptations once they're on a website," she says.
A study published in 2023 looked at how gamification affects young people's shopping behaviour in Vietnam. The results showed that features like rewards and competitions could boost engagement and positively influence purchasing decisions.
"But what's interesting is that our happiness levels don't change. We're buying more, but still not getting any happier," she says.
A scale for shopping addiction
In Bergen, researchers have explored whether shopping shows the same behavioural addiction signs seen in gambling and video games.
Torbjørn Torsheim, professor at the University of Bergen's Department of Psychosocial Science, has spent years studying behavioural addiction, including gambling and gaming.
The scale is based on seven components used to measure behavioural addiction and was inspired by similar models used in addiction research.
"We saw that shopping was increasingly adopting gaming elements, much like how gambling-like features were being introduced into video games," says Torsheim, adding:
"So it made sense for us to investigate whether shopping followed the same patterns as other behavioural addictions, such as gaming, social media use, and gambling."
Should shopping addiction be treated like other addictions?
Findings from the 2015 study showed that women reported more shopping-related problems than men, and that older individuals were less likely to exhibit high shopping behaviour.
However, whether a high score on the scale actually indicates addiction is still debated according to Torsheim.
"In clinical terms, addiction means that a person loses control over their behaviour, and the consequences affect other areas of life. It can lead to financial problems and cause difficulties in relationships," he says.
Torbjørn Torsheim, a behavioural addiction researcher, says that excessive shopping can share several characteristics with gambling addiction.(Photo: Eivind Senneset)
He believes that excessive shopping shares many traits with other forms of addiction.
"It can involve intense preoccupation, a pursuit of mood-enhancing effects, increased frequency, difficulty cutting down, and relapses," he says.
Torsheim adds that it can also lead to conflict and other issues.
"If someone scores high across all the components, shopping has become a significant part of their life. But we're talking about a wide spectrum – and for most people, shopping isn't a problem," he says.
Still, Torsheim notes that the scale does not explain what drives or sustains excessive shopping. Additionally, the participants in the study were recruited through online newspapers, which may have influenced who took part.
"Whether shopping addiction should be treated like other addictions is still an open question. Research is increasingly exploring treatment and prevention approaches similar to those used for other forms of addiction," he says.
Excessive shopping can impact people's finances and relationships, says researcher Torbjørn Torsheim.(Photo: Shutterstock / NTB)
"The real problem lies in the system"
While shopping addiction is being studied, researchers are also looking into how society as a whole shapes our shopping behaviour.
Even though marketing is often cited as the driving force behind overconsumption, Easa Sahabeh believes it is only part of the picture.
"The focus is often on the individual and the company, but the real problem lies in the entire system," he says.
Sahabeh points out that we live in a hyper-commercialised consumer society where nearly everything is designed to make us buy more.
"We should focus more on how the entire economy, business models, and social influences contribute to the problem. It's a system built to reward growth, competition, and constant consumption," he says.
He believes we need a fundamental conversation about the system – about economic growth, power structures, and politics.
"This isn't something the individual can solve alone. There's no way around having a serious discussion about the rules of the entire game. Fortunately, we're beginning to see more institutions starting to engage in these conversations," he says.
